Media advisory - Canadian Society of Microbiologists

OTTAWA, Sept. 25, 2014 /CNW/ - The Canadian Society of Microbiologists welcomes the Obama administration's release of a national strategy for combating antibiotic resistance.

Only immediate effective action on a global scale will prevent the development of antibiotic resistance, compromising the use of drugs indispensable for health care. These critical therapeutic agents must be preserved through science-based action.

• There is an urgent need to develop an aggressive research agenda, and deploy the necessary resources to deal with the seminally important health issue of antibiotic resistance development.
• Policies and regulations must be developed that promote the judicious use of antibiotics in human medicine and in agriculture, and reduce environmental pollution with antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
• Policies that encourage the development and commercialization of new antibiotics are a priority.

The CSM applauds the recent release by the Obama administration [http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy.pdf] of a national strategy for combating antibiotic resistance in the U.S.A. We encourage the Government of Canada and indeed all countries to implement policies that avoid the misuse of antibiotics in agriculture and medicine, stimulate the antimicrobial research and development pipeline, support international collaboration, and fund surveillance, basic and applied research to understand the origin, spread, evolution and development of antimicrobial resistance. SOURCE Canadian Society of Microbiologists.

For further information: Contact: CSM Secretariat: info@csm-scm.org, Website: http://csm-scm.ca, 
Dr. Charles M. Dozois, President,
Canadian Society of Microbiologists